Categories: PCPS4Reviews

Toren review for PS4

Platform: PS4
Also On: PC
Publisher: Versus Evil
Developer: Swordtales
Medium: Digital
Players: 1
Online: No
ESRB: T

I was hooked in by Toren, a new indie title developed by Swordtales and published by Versus Evil from the cover art alone. This indie title is available on the PlayStation 4 and PC as a digital download. Toren is a 3rd person adventure game with a familiar art style.

In Toren, you play as a young girl known as ?Moonchild? and with the help of a Wizard; he gives her a seedling that becomes the tree of life to help ascend the tower (Toren).  Moonchild?s overall design is reminiscent of styles from games like ?ICO? and ?The Mark of Kri.? The game begins with a tutorial, which puts you in a battle with a black dragon on top of the tower. After a brief introduction to the story you begin your journey upward.

During the ascension to the top of the tower, you will encounter statues that give you optional dream sequences and fill in more to the story, which I think is one of the best aspects of the game. These levels include some puzzles which you will need to solve in order to complete the sequence. A little later into the game; you will need to keep a heat source near you because the environment is extremely cold and if you try to progress without it, the screen will begin to freeze and Moonchild will as well.

My first run through the game took less than 2 hours which felt pretty short for an adventure game, then I realized that this game felt more like a puzzler/platformer based on what you are doing to progress in the game. First and foremost, Toren has very nice visuals and the tower itself is unique in its own right. When I first saw Moonchild holding a sword, I was expecting to be fighting some enemies along the adventure. Sadly, the sword is more for show and more tied to the lore of the game than an actual weapon.

To make up for its length, the game does offer some decent puzzle elements when traversing the tower. The puzzles include using stone statues of yourself that are left behind if you die. The platforming aspect unfortunately suffers from bad framerates and significant screen tearing. The controls however, seemed to be the biggest issue for me. Moonchild has a long delayed (princess Peach Mario Bros 2) jump, but not in a good way. You end up misjudging jumps and fall to your doom excessively.

In the end, Toren is a decent indie title if you are looking for something quick to play. For a game with a short completion time, it offered vast amounts of lore being told from a narrative perspective as well as through poetry. For $9.99, it is a good value for the time you will put into the game.

Grade: C+
Benny Rose

I grew up around comic books, movies, and video games because my late father owned a comic book store in Brooklyn, NY called Brain Damage Comics. Also an avid Gamer and Toy collector, musician @TheNeonArcadia and podcast host on @ThePressed4Time Senior Editor @ www.gaming-age.com

Recent Posts

Nintendo eShop Update: Quilts and Cats of Calico, Star Trek: Legends

Check out what pre-Christmas goodies are arriving on the eShop this week!

2 hours ago

Alien: Rogue Incursion review for SteamVR, PS VR2

A mostly well-designed VR experience by Survios that effectively immerses players in the Alien universe.

3 hours ago

Check out your personalized Nintendo Switch Year in Review 2024

Discover your most-played genre of the year, combined playtime, busiest gaming month, and more.

19 hours ago

Your Steam Replay/Year in Review is live for all!

Attention Steam players your personalized Year in Review... err.. Steam Replay is now live.

19 hours ago

Tri Breaker: A Sacred Symbols Odyssey review for PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch

A brick breaker on steroids…that actually has less brick breaker than its predecessor.

1 day ago

Experience the handcrafted world of Fantasian Neo Dimension in the game’s free demo

If the combo of  Hironobu Sakaguchi and Nobuo Uematsu doesn’t move you to at least…

1 day ago

This website uses cookies.